– The Ducks notched their first road playoff shutout since Game 4 of the 2014 Western Conference semifinals against Los Angeles.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

– Frederik Andersen. You deserve it for not only surviving a slap shot from the NHL’s hardest shooter but stopping two others from the star defenseman and every other shot that came his way. His 27-save blanking was his first in the playoff since Game 2 of the 2015 Western Conference semifinals against Calgary. Honorable mention goes to Chris Stewart, who made the most of his 7 minutes, 13 seconds of playing time with a goal and assist.

ANALYSIS

– Changes were made by Bruce Boudreau in response to their Game 2 loss and their 2-0 deficit in the series. Frederik Andersen was in goal, Shawn Horcoff was in the lineup and the lines were shuffled a bit with Jamie McGinn and Chris Stewart dropped down to make a new fourth line while Nate Thompson was moved up and put on left wing. Ryan Garbutt was also shifted up to Stewart’s old spot alongside Ryan Getzlaf and David Perron, a place he’s spent time before. All of it worked, most notably in the new fourth group delivering the opening goal and Andersen continuing the strong play that accompanied his initial return to action in the regular-season finale at Washington. If you count that 24-save effort, Andersen has now strung together consecutive shutouts. So there will be no question that the Great Dane will be the Game 4 goalie – and beyond if he continues his current play. His work at the moment seems to inspire an even higher level of confidence among his teammates, something that is absolutely critical in the postseason.

The win is the most important thing as they now know they can get it done in a tough environment and have the chance to do it again and even the series. But how it was done is also important. It was clinical and free of the histrionics that defined Game 2. The Ducks took control early and never engaged in post-whistle shenanigans. And when the Predators realized they wouldn’t be baited, it wasn’t worth trying. If they’re able to keep Bridgestone Arena sounding more like a bookstore than a rock concert, they can fully turn the momentum in this series. Boudreau’s “stupid” and “dumb” references to his team following Game 2 could have been taken two ways. His team could focus on the reason why he was frustrated and responded by learning from the error of its ways or it could have focused on the words themselves and tuned him out. How much or how little of an impact those words were are unclear but it was clear that the players responded in the best manner possible.

KEY MOMENT

– Rickard Rakell’s between-the-legs redirection from Sami Vatanen’s designed shot-pass gave the Ducks a two-goal lead with 8:27 left in the second.

ANY NEWS?

– Shawn Horcoff played his first game of the series after being scratched for Games 1 and 2.

MORE POSTGAME QUOTES

BRUCE BOUDREAU

(on playing an ideal defensive game …)

“I think that as a group, they were responsible tonight. It was a businesslike fashion. We got the couple breaks when we got them and we put them in. That’s playoff hockey.”

(on how he reacted to Weber’s shot striking his goalie …)

“Ouch. I mean those things hurt. He’s scored three goals on us this year just on one-timers. When he gets that one-timer, you know he’s got the hardest shot in the league. I can’t believe that goalies – any goalie – has the courage to come out there. Because I don’t know if you can see it when it’s coming.”

(on if the team responds any differently with Andersen in goal …)

“I don’t think so. Quite frankly, whoever was in net tonight, I think the team was going to respond the way it did. I’m sure Gibby would have done just as good a job if he was in the net as well. Freddie came and since he’s come back from his little injury, he’s been pretty good.”

(on the team’s penalty killing …)

“I thought the killers did a great job and we did control our emotions. The penalties we got, other than the too many men on the ice, they were earned. We’ll take them. We’re really proud of our penalty killers. We don’t like them to do it too much. We’d like to keep it to two or three a game. They did a great job tonight.”

(on the new fourth line producing the first goal …)

“That makes you feel real good when your fourth line can score a goal. Especially when they haven’t played as much and they’re in that situation. Stewie, I don’t know if he played eight minutes but they were eight great minutes. And McGinn played good minutes. Horcoff was our guy that was winning all the faceoffs at the end for us. They really contributed well. When that happens, it really makes it a lot easier for the other lines, taking the pressure off them.”

(on the win being a template for them going forward …)

“We’d like to but we’re going to have to make some adjustments. They will. They’re going to be a lot better the next game. Just like I think we were better in Game 2 than Game 1. They will come out like a house on fire I’m sure in a couple of days.”

FREDERIK ANDERSEN

(on the win …)

“We came with a businesslike mindset. We wanted to get back in the series. Huge, huge win for us. We came ready to play in the first and did some of the things right. We wanted to improve from the last two games.”

(on the depth of the team having an impact …)

“It was great to see some of the guys like Horc [Shawn Horcoff] back in the lineup. A veteran presence both on the ice and in the locker room. Good to se him back in for us. And I think the penalty kill did a great job. It turned out to help us win the game.”

(on how Boudreau handled the team after Game 2 …)

“We’ve just been talking about things we wanted to change from the first two games. That’s what we need to do in a seven-game series. You want to make adjustments. If you have something to improve on, you want to make those adjustments in between games.”

KEVIN BIEKSA

(on how they took in Boudreau’s criticism …)

“It wasn’t a big deal. I don’t know if he even said anything to us. I think he already said something in the media or something. When you’re in the NHL, you don’t need your coach to tell you when you’re taking dumb penalties. Regardless of what he says, we knew that we were undisciplined in Game 2. it hurt us. We took too many penalties, I thought again tonight. We did a good job killing. As the series goes on, you don’t want to be giving too many chances to that unit.”

(on playing an ideal defensive game …)

“It was pretty good. I was just kind of joking around, I don’t know how many grade-As we gave up tonight but I can’t remember five off the top of my head. And that’s a good team over there. The forwards were doing a really good job of coming back. I don’t think we gave up any clear-cut 3-on-2s, which helps the defense because we can have a lot better gaps. Our gaps were a little loose in Game 2. Tonight, they were good. They dumped a lot of pucks. We swarmed them. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time in our end.”

CHRIS STEWART

(on not getting involved in post-whistle scrums …)

“This time of the year, it’s about harnessing your energy. Using it for the good. You can’t get caught up with all that stuff after the whistle. You’re just going to hurt yourself and your wasting energy. We need it this time of the year.”

(on some different players getting on scoresheet …)

“We know our big guns are usually going to chip in offensively. This time of the year, the secondary scoring has to be there and it’s going to be pivotal along the way. Tonight it was me and hopefully next game it’ll be someone else.”

RICKARD RAKELL

(on his between-the-legs redirection …)

“It was perfect. Like I said, I was just trying to get a stick on it, through me on net. It was a big goal.”

(on them playing a perfect road game …)

“Except for taking a few penalties, I thought Freddie played a great game and [penalty kill] also played a great game. We just want to keep playing like this moving forward.”

(on his goalie getting hit in the mask …)

“It’s never fun to see your goalie go down like that. Freddie’s strong and we know he’s going to bounce back.”

POSTGAME NOTES

• Simon Despres had a team-leading six hits and tied for the lead with three blocks.

• Shawn Horcoff had an assist and won seven of nine faceoffs in 9:14.

• Corey Perry had an assist for his second point of the series.

• The Ducks were credited with just three giveaways while Nashville had 14.

• Jamie McGinn scored on his only shot on goal.

• Rickard Rakell and Jakob Silfverberg each led the Ducks with three shots.

• Filip Forsberg had four shots on goal but also had a minus-3 rating.

• Miikka Salomaki had four this and three shots on goal for Nashville.

• Predators captain Shea Weber had four blocked shots in 28:33.

• Mike Ribeiro had no points in the first three games and was minus-2 in Game 3.

WHAT’S NEXT?

– The Ducks play the Nashville Predators in Game 4 on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena at 5 p.m.

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